Mapu Speakers

How did preserving local crafts lead to the design of a speaker?

Philine: Ten years ago, there was a design competition for handmade products. We were in the middle of another documentary project in Chili, but Pablo submitted a concept of a speaker that he made with a local potter from the region. 

Pablo: In Chili, some villages produce a lot of pots and ceramics, that is how the idea of turning a pot into a speaker started. As a Chilean, I wanted to make a high-end product. We almost have no industry in our country. Most of what we sell is food and raw materials, and most of the work is done by hand. We are often unseen at the beginning of the supply chain, and we usually do not sell patents. I wanted to move out of that. 

So, I asked myself: ‘How can we keep this pottery craft alive, using local materials, while also looking at the future and complementing it with something more complex?’ What I submitted was not ready, it was only a photo of an idea. As a designer, and even with Philine in audiovisual communication, we didn’t have any acoustic knowledge. But I wanted to show: ‘Look what a speaker could also look like.’ 

Philine: We didn’t win that competition, but the image was published on the front page of Design Boom – a leading design platform – and many other media outlets. For months we got messages from people who wanted to buy the speaker, but it didn’t exist yet. It was crazy.  

When did you decide to turn your idea into an actual product?

Philine: Initially, we kept working on other projects. We reached a real turning point three or four years after we developed the concept, when we were featured in another well-known magazine as one of the ten most beautiful speakers in the world. Again, we got a lot of emails from people that couldn’t find them.  

We now knew there was serious interest in the market, and we had just met Ricardo, a potter friend from Portugal. We decided to make our first prototypes with him and got funding from the Chilean government to show them at Salone del Mobile – one of the world’s largest design tradeshows in Milan.  

Pablo: It was a very nice stand with Ricardo sitting on the potter's wheel and music playing all the time. There was so much interest from people. We won a special mention, and we got a lot of press coverage again. That was the start of everything; we decided to proceed and look for acoustic support. 

How did you manage to fuse traditional pottery techniques with modern sound technology?

Pablo: We first found a professor at the Technical University in Berlin, who helped us with an acoustic test. He found out that the hard resonance body and the round forward shape we had developed by chance, had a lot of potential. Acoustically it was really incredible. We got in contact with a company to develop amplifiers and decided to move to Chili to produce our first small collection with local potters. 

Philine: Honestly, bringing together traditional techniques and modern technology was a challenge in the beginning. There were two worlds that didn't match at first. The pottery was handcrafted and always a bit different, but for the amplifiers to work we needed them to be perfect and airtight. Without that precision, no one was going to use the speakers.  

Instead of 6 months, we ended up staying for over a year to learn everything we needed to learn about pottery. It was really a process of failing in every aspect. Pots busted open in the oven and when we finally finished production, it started raining and everything got wet again. We became experts by making every possible mistake that you can make.  

Pablo: When we finally managed the pottery part, it was time for the engineering part. First of all, we needed funds to pay for the amplifiers and decided to create a crowdfunding campaign. What followed was really a series of lucky breaks that helped us gain acoustic expertise. 

Can you tell us about the local materials you use? Do they go hand in hand with high-end engineering?

Philine: People sometimes expect handmade and local to mean compromise. But for us, it’s about exceeding expectations when it comes to performance. Our materials turn out to be very suitable for sound engineering. 

Pablo: Instead of using polluting materials like plastic or aluminum, our speakers are made of clay. Clay is not just beautiful; it has natural acoustic dampening qualities, reducing resonance and creating a warm, full-bodied tone. To optimize the sound quality, we use recycled and certified wood.  

Philine: For insulation, we use biodegradable wool, cork, and leather. Wool also helps to protect the internal components, because it is non-flammable, and unlike synthetic fibers it does not need harmful chemicals. Leather and cork also both have ideal properties for our insulation purposes, because they are elastic and strong. 

Our materials are always locally sourced, as regional as possible. So, in our Portuguese speakers we use cork, because Portugal is full of cork oaks. And in the Chilean ones we use leather, which is widely available there. In the future, we envision making a Japanese version with porcelain and volcanic ash, or a Moroccan one using local clay and textiles. 

Pablo: If a speaker would break, you can just unarm it in its parts. The clay does not have to be glazed, because we use a special firing technique that makes the speakers black. So, it's really only soil that becomes earth again. Also, our packaging is very good. It is made of a cardboard tube filled with wool for transportation. Once you unwrap it, you can put it in your garden or make a cushion out of it.

For anyone curious, where can people listen to the sound of your speakers?

Pablo: This is important for us, and also still a challenge. Before people decide to buy our speakers, they want to hear it for themselves, and they should. That’s why we are slowly building a network of listening points in homes, studios, and galleries where people can hear Mapu Speakers in a real environment. It’s not like testing a speaker in an electronics shop, but an experience. 

Philine: In Bremen, we regularly invite visitors into our studio for listening sessions. We also collaborate with concept stores and design-minded venues that share our values. In Amsterdam, for instance, people can go to Mexican restaurant Coba Taqueria.  

We are very open to partners who want to be part of this network. As it grows, we hope to create decentralized listening stations across Europe and beyond, where people can not only test the sound, but also learn about the materials, techniques, and stories behind each piece.

What do you need for more brand awareness to conquer the electronics market?

Pablo: What is so beautiful is that a lot of interesting people know us and keep cheering for us. For example, we met Manu Chao last year. He is such a musical inspiration and influencer, and he wants to use our speakers. These things keep happening and we want to keep inviting them in. It motivates us tremendously when people tell us that we are doing something good, and it really helps when they want to share our work with the rest of the world.  

Philine: To make an impact, we are now at the point where we need to start selling more speakers. Besides people sharing our story – artists, influencers and all of our fans – we are also looking for value-aligned distribution points, like boutique hotels, where people can listen to music and order our speakers.  

And we have just launched a new crowdfunding campaign that people can support until June 11th. We aim to raise €20,000 to expand our network, start the development of the next generation amplifiers and a subwoofer for our speakers, and hire a professional agency to help us with marketing and e-commerce.

Finally, what is the main message that you want people to share about you?

Philine: With Mapu we use modern technology to honor tradition. Our designs are meant to make people listen, metaphorically and literally, to the voices of local craftspeople. We believe that the spirit that goes into the making of every product matters. In our speakers you can feel it and you will hear it. 

Pablo: Our goal is to help local craftspeople earn a decent income, to preserve the beauty and diversity of our products and our planet. Of course, maybe I can earn more money being a designer wearing glasses with a red frame in an office. But I really prefer to keep doing this. Sometimes it’s complicated to keep going and stay true to our values, but we are really getting a nice life with Mapu. And we welcome everyone to join us. 

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